S. Africa’s President Zuma resigns

JOHANNESBURG — South African President Jacob Zuma bowed to intense pressure from his party and resigned Wednesday, ending nearly nine years of rule marred by corruption scandals and fiscal mismanagement that shamed the party of Nelson Mandela and inflicted serious damage on one of Africa’s biggest economies.

The 75-year-old leader’s approval ratings had been sinking along with those of his ruling party, the African National Congress. In the end, the party turned against him and sided with his deputy, Cyril Ramaphosa, who unseated Zuma as party president in December.

The ANC national executive committee issued Zuma an ultimatum Monday: Resign or be recalled from office.

Zuma, who had already been resisting pressure from party leaders to quit, remained defiant at first. On Wednesday, he went on television and in a lengthy statement insisted that he had done nothing wrong and that forcing him from office would divide his party and could lead to violence.

He said he had asked ANC leaders what he had done wrong, but none could answer him.

“What is the rush? I have been asking this question all the time,” he told SABC television. “You can’t force a decision as is being done now.”

“It’s the first time that I feel the leadership is unfair,” Zuma said. “It’s ‘No, you must just go.’ The ANC does not run things that way. It’s a kind of ANC that I begin to feel that there’s something wrong here.”

But late Wednesday, Zuma backed down and in a television address announced his decision to resign.